


Sick Day

by princelogical



Series: The Human!Sides College AU Verse [16]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Crying, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic, mention of abusive parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 01:38:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17013102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princelogical/pseuds/princelogical
Summary: Logan's coming down with something and it brings about a bag of emotions that he did not request.





	Sick Day

It isn't too terribly abnormal for Logan to develop a headache from time to time. However, he must admit that it has become something of a scarcer event lately. Logan hypothesizes that it might have something to do with his sleep schedule improving and his incorporation of, as Patton would call it, "self-care" into his life. Matter of fact, he has become quite used to feeling healthy and strong, both mentally and physically.

 

Which is why it is all the greater of a surprise to wake up feeling as if his head is being compressed in a deodorant can, his nose stuffed with cotton, and throat ridden with sharp nails. (Roman's use of figurative language appears to be rubbing off on him).

 

It is not much of a big deal- Logan knows this. From all the years he'd spent living with his parents, they had taught him that there were worse things to come about in the world than a silly illness. He mustn't ever let it get in the way on his path to success. Logan knows he can power through it; he _knows_ he can function and study and work as normal. It will not feel good. But he can do it.

 

However, that isn't the point, is it? He's learned. As Patton would say, "Sometimes it's not whether you can do something- it's if you really should, kiddo. You've been taught a lot of things that you can do, but I… I don't know if it's all good for you." And while Patton is full of incoherent ridiculousness at times, he really is quite wise.

 

Logan rolls over tiredly and fumbles for his phone. His fingers feel heavy and sore as he grasps the phone and rolls back over, powering it on. With his eyes half-lidded, he calls in sick, where Thomas sympathetically says, "Take care of yourself, buddy."

 

Tiredly, he holds his thumb over Patton's contact in his most recent calls list. He eyes the blocked number just below it, stomach churning and heart clenching the smallest amount. He closes his eyes, blaming it on the discomfort he is feeling physically, and then taps Patton's contact. The phone only rings three times before Patton is answering, cheerful and loud voice making Logan recoil, pulling the phone a good six inches away from his ear.

 

"Hey, kiddo! I thought you'd be in class, but Virge here's just reminded me that it's Friday and you don't have any morning classes today, so whoopsie daisy! You wanna meet for lunch later? Roman can't make it but Virgil and I'll be there."

 

Logan blinks, his foggy brain trying to process all of the information Patton has spewed at him. "Ah. I will not be able to make it to lunch today, Patton. Apologies."

 

"Well, that's okay. No need to feel bad," Patton says. Logan can almost hear the soft smile through the phone. "Everything okay? You sound sad."

 

"I am not sad," Logan says and, well, it's true. What he is experiencing is not sadness. Most of his symptoms are physical. However, he can admit that some of what he is feeling is confliction and… what Virgil had often described as "self-deprecation."

 

"But something's wrong?" Patton asks softly.

 

"I believe I am getting sick," Logan says. "Perhaps… well, it feels quite like a cold."

 

"Oh no," Patton says. "I can bring you chicken noodle soup over for lunch.

 

"Oh, Patton, you do not have to do that-"

 

"-And I have some cookies too. They're not homemade or anything, just prepackaged. But they're good!"

 

"Patton. You do not need to trouble yourself."

 

"I don't mind," Patton says. His voice is filled with something warm and genuine and Logan squeezes his eyes shut, hands clenching into the phone. He's not used to this, even after years of attempting to grow accustomed to it. He fears that Patton's kindness will always feel startling to him. Not, however, unpleasantly so.

 

"Thank you," Logan says.

 

"Of course, kiddo. I'm… I'm proud of you for reaching out."

 

Logan takes a deep breath and attempts to steady himself. "Thank you, Patton."

 

"'Course. Catch ya later."

 

Logan smiles. "Goodbye."

 

He hangs up and immediately lets the phone slip from his fingers and bounce onto the bed. Slowly, he allows himself to drift off to sleep.

 

/./

 

It's not until half past noon when Logan wakes up again, hands flailing about in a mild panic. Sweat sticks the sheets to his skin and he shakily wipes a trail of drool away from his mouth. Virgil sits on Patton's bed, typing away on a laptop. He looks up and meets Logan's eyes with a hesitant smile.

 

"Patton wanted to give you the soup himself but dude had a 12:45 class." Virgil closes the laptop and stands up, reaching for a paper bag sitting at the bottom of the bed. "Hungry?"

 

Logan slowly nods and moves to get up but Virgil throws his hand out in a "stop" command. Logan lowers himself back against the pillows as Virgil climbs from the bed and withdraws a Styrofoam bowl with a plastic spoon a and a little baggie of semi-crumbled chocolate-chip cookies. Virgil deposits the items into Logan's lap and sits down carefully at the end of the bed, right next to Logan's feet.

 

"Do you need anything?" Virgil asks, eyebrows knitted together in worry that Logan can't begin to unpack.

 

"A bottle of ibuprofen would be satisfactory," he teases dryly, but Virgil is already up, digging through his backpack and withdrawing a stuffed first-aid kit. Logan raises an eyebrow as Virgil withdraws two little packets from the kit and brings them over.

 

"You can take four at once but I figure it's best to start you off with two."

 

"Thank you," Logan says, accepting the little packets and tearing them open. He downs them with accumulated saliva, then slowly opens the bowl of soup. He cannot smell it but it appears delicious. Upon tasting it, however, it's quite a bit bland and too-slippery on his tongue and it takes a bit of force to swallow it down. He manages to finish half of it before he feels himself tiredly starting to nod off.

 

Virgil is there in an instant and gently grabs the bowl and cookies. "Don't worry about it, Logan. I've got it."

 

That's all the permission Logan needs before he's drifting off again.

 

/./

 

Logan awakes once again, sometime past ten in the evening. Someone is quietly arguing at the foot of his bed. Upon peeking his eyes open, he sees it's Roman and Virgil and Patton all sitting on the floor at the bottom of his bed. There's a big stack of Uno cards and Roman is determinedly pointing at them and hissing something about a cheater. Patton whispers something about letting Logan sleep. Logan's phone buzzes from somewhere in his sheets and he clumsily grabs for it, seeing the blocked number coming across his screen before automatically ending the call.

 

It's too much. Logan's throat hurts, his head hurts, his body aches, and his stupid mother won't leave him alone. And with startling clarity, Logan realises that his friends treat him far better than his mother ever has or ever could. She'd never brought him soup, never took the time to tell him she was proud. It hurts, Logan realises, to lay in bed and dwell on how much you are a failure in your mother's eyes.

 

"Shit, is he crying?"

 

"He's crying."

 

"Fuck."

 

Logan attempts to bury his face in his pillows but Patton is there, gently running a hand over Logan's sweaty hair, and hushing him softly in his throat.

 

"Dude, it's okay," Roman says. "Virgil's such a rotten cheater, it'd make anyone cry."

 

"You shut the fuck up right now, Princey," Virgil snarls and Logan lets out a laugh and wipes the embarrassing tears from his eyes and cheeks. Virgil's arms are crossed but he looks at Logan with something concerned and gentle in his eyes. Patton's eyes and hands are soft, gently carding through his hair. Logan wants to warn him of germs. He doesn’t.

 

Roman reaches over and grabs Logan's phone, powering it off as it starts to buzz again. He slips it in his pocket; Logan doesn't protest.

 

"Screw her," Roman says fiercely. He pats Logan's leg and lowers himself back to the ground and begins picking up the deck of Uno cards. "Want me to deal you in for the next round?" he asks.

 

Logan nods. He falls asleep halfway through, Patton's arm wrapped around his shoulders. No one minds.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sick as fuck and sad as fuck so I'm projecting in my favourite universe.


End file.
